Houston Town Lake Olympic Tri

Tomorrow I am doing my last Olumpic Tri  of the year (and 2nd ever).  I am a bit anxious, but not as much as last time.  I am hoping to improve in all areas, as one should.  As always, the one thing I am nervous about is the run, as it is the last and (for me) hardest.

I just read there are 1,800 athletes participating. I hope most are for the Sprint, because I feel confident about the swim, but if there are a lot of people, that might affect the outcome.

Well, gotta go.  My goal is 3:00:00, or less.  Individual goals as follows:

Swim:  33min (did 34:36 last time)
T1:  5 min ( the #$* Transition area is super far away)
Bike: 1:19 min (@ 19 MPH)
T2:  3 min
Run:  60 min

Week 15/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

This is the 1st week of taper before Town Lake.  I did not get a chance to do the long workouts on the weekend because I had the (coolest) camping trip with Ramon (Cub Scouts).  Nonetheless, the week was not too slow, and I guess that is what I needed.  I have been training following the 1/2 IM plan, but the next race is the Olympic distance.

Totals this week:

Swim: 2,000 yds
Bike:  45 miles
Run: 132 min (aprox. 12.6 miles).

Week 14/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

Extremele good "fondos" this week.  During the week I had to take two days off (Austin and Friday), but more than made up for on the weekend.  Feel ready for the Olympic, and why not, for the 1/2 IM (swim and bike at least)

Totals this week:

Swim: 3,800 yds
Bike:  127.5 miles
Run: 225 min (aprox. 23-34miles).

12 Year-Old Trail-Running Phenom

Amazing Story.

http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/12-year-old-trail-running-phenom-wins-xterra-21k.html

Week 11/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

This was a slow week because I had to taper and rest for today's Olyumpic Tri.  Having said that, today's effort (more on that later) was probably the hardest in a long long time.

Totals this week:

Swim: 5,150 yds
Bike:  70 miles
Run: 166 min (aprox. 16-17 miles).

Clearlake International Tri reflections and real results

Well, Clearlake is done and I gotta say that I had an amazing time.  It was a great race and during I decided that I want to go for the 1/2 IM.  More on that later.  First, some reflections

Swim

As a strategy, I have decided that I will always start on the back right of the group.  I do not want to get caught int the kicking and pushing of the pack.  I followed this strategy yesterday and it worked great.  During the entire swim I felt very comfortable, good and I was actually passing people.  I ended up coming out 16 in my age group (39 people) and 52 out of 110 in my overall group (all 39 and under).  Like I said, I felt really good and my pace was actually better than planned.

Bike

The bike started off with problems.  First, my right shoe would not clip.  Then, 2-3 minutes into the ride, I broke my left shifter.  This means that I rode with the small spoke (plato) all the race.  Like Tommy (Guardia) said, I probably looked like a Monkey at a fair: pedaling and pedaling.  But, anyway, I did not let this syche me out and I rode as fast as I can.  My legs tired more, I guess, but I decided that I had enough cushion in my planned time run since I had estimated 70 min there.  All in all, my bike time was 3:40 min more than planned, which sux, but still pretty good.  

Run

I knew going into the run my legs were tired, and I would probably walk a lot.  BUT, I had decided I would do my best to stay under 3h20m overall.  Eventually this did not happen, as I allowed myself the time because of the bike problems.  I ran the entire first loop, with no walking, but had to start walking more and more in the other loops.  I am not sure how much I walked, but it was at least 10-15 minutes of the overall time.  I ended up doing better than planned, at 1h06m

After all was said and done, I beat my estimated/planned time by 40 seconds, which is very comforting given the bike issue.   I am very pumped up to break the 3 hour mark in the Memorial Herman Olympic tri in 5 weeks, and to do that I need to concentrate to improve the run to break the 10min/mile pace, and just do my previously planned 18.6 mph in the bike.  If I can do both, and just maintain my swim, it is very possible.

 

Clearlake International Pictures

Some pics from yesterday. Race review to come.

T-14 hours

So, this thing is tomorrow.  I am all packed up and ready to go to my Abdiel's house (Abdiel, thanks for the offer, that extra 30 min of sleep will be priceless).  I am going over a lot of details in my head, I guess that means that I am taking this a lot more seriously than previously thought.  

I will try to post a couple of more pics before the race, and after.  To the few (1-2) who read this, thanks!  I will give it my best, but always thinking this is my "dry run" for the Sept. 30th. with 5 weeks to improve, train and set 2nd time goals.

Week 10/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

This was the Taper week for Clearlake.  It did not feel like it, although the distances probably reflect it.  I decided to go do the bike route Friday morning, and it was frickin' hot.  I could barey (really!) finish the 45 min walk afterwards.  The bike felt great, though, and I did 40 miles, and not the 28 mile course.  Friday got me thinking about the 1/2 IM, and we'll have to see.  I got nervous about doing the 2 Olympic distance races in the next 6 weeks.  But I know I'll be fine, I just want to do a good time

This week I decided not to do the 25 mile bike (2nd one), as my legs are tired and I need to concentrate on running in the next couple of days of taper.  

Swim: 4,500 yds
Bike:  65 miles
Run: 135 minutes (approx. 14-15 miles), plus 45 min walk

Just to get them out in the open now, these are my goals for Clearlake:

Swim - 37 min

T1 - 4 min

Bike - 90 min (at around 18.6 mph, and it is 28 miles and not 25 miles)

T2 - 3 min

Run - 70 min

Total:  3 h 24 min

I think if I push it I can do 3 h 12 min (pushing the bike to 19mph and the run to 60 min, and cutting T1 to 3 min).  This would be equivalent to 3 h 3 min in the REAL Olympic. 

Our son's progress

Today  Em and I met with Dr. Harris and Maureen to review the progess of my son, Tomas, after 6 months of therapy.  Even though we see him everyday and know he had impoved amazingly, the results of the evaluation were nothing short of PHENOMENAL.  

There is so much information that it is amazing.  We don't want to share too much, so here it goes, in a nutshell.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale

Verbal IQ :  went from 61 to 81

Performance IQ:  went from 5o to 100 (WOW)

Processing Speed:  from 60 to 73

Full Scale IQ:  WENT FROM 35 TO 86..

     Remember, anything under 75 is considered a form of Mental Retardation.  Anything between 90-110 is considered Normal.  So Tomas is 4 points away from NORMAL.  Pardon my french, but isnt' that fucking awesome?????????

Language

Reception / Understanding:  went from a level of a 35 month old to the level of a 42 month old (7 month improvement).  They said this was normal for 6 months.

Expression :  went from the level of a 23 month old to the level of a 40 month old (17 months). AWESOME improvement.

There is a lot of data they collect, analyze and then Tomas  has totally surpassed their expectations,  and they are amazed, excited and enthusiastic about his improvement and chances.  

Emily and I are very thankful for all the work Dr. Harris and his team had done with Tomas.  And want to encourage everybody (for the few readers of this blog, please share if you wish) to treat Austim. Let's create more awareness.  It is totally treatable with love, sacrifice and determination.  We owe it to our kids.

God bless. Today is a good good day.

Week 9/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

By far the most grueling week of training ever for me.  But so cool to be able to train whenever I want and totally get to be in the shape I am getting to be in and seriously consider doing a 1/2 IM in November.  I seriously am. 

This week I could not the last 1,000 yd swim because I wanted to be with my kids, but the rest was done:

Swim: 4,750 yds
Bike:  98 miles
Run: 140 minutes (approx. 15 miles)

Taper starts now for Clearlake.

Invertir en el Deporte en Panama

Hoy escuche algo que me parecio fantastico. Gran Bretana, despues de las Olimpiadas de 

Atlanta (1996) donde solo hicieron 1 medalla de oro, crearon una Loteria especial donde los 

fondos iban hacia crear Atletas que los representaran en las futuras olimpiadas. Aqui los 

resultados:

1996 - 15 Total (1 Oro), Rank#36


2000 - 28 Total (11 Oro), Rank#10


2004 - 30 Total (9 Oro), Rank#10


2008 - 47 Total (19 Oro), Rank#4


2012 - 54 Total (25 Oro), Rank#3 (a la fecha, faltan 2 dias)

Sera que en Panama hagamos algo asi, SIN CHANCHULLO?

Week 8/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

This was a Recovery week, specially given the fact that I went to Austin for 4 days.  However, I did take my bike and rode 25 miles in the nice Austin hills (thanks to Victor Vasquez for the hospitality)  

As always, my totals this week were

Swim: 2,750yds
Bike:  61 miles
Run: 85 minutes (approx. 8-9 miles)

The next two weeks will be tough.  I am NOT doing a Taper for the 1st Olympic Tri, but going all out. The week of I will take it slow.  

Free/Borrow E-Books

Ran into this article at cnnfn.com.

Free E-Books

http://hundredzeros.com

Borrow E-Books

http://hundredzeros.com
Booklending.com

Week 7/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

Tough week, but very rewarding.  By far the most training I have done in a week.  The last few months have been awesome training, and I can feel the improvement.  I need to improve my speed, but that will come.  

This week I did ALL of my workouts, much better than last week.  No road biking, but did all of the planned stuff at the gym.  And increased speedwork for run, which was noticeably harder.

Anyway, my totals this week were

Swim: 5,000yds
Bike:  82 miles
Run: 110 minutes (approx. 11 miles)

All in all, it was more than twice the swim, twice the bike and 40% more running that last week.

Clearlake Olympic Triathlon is in 4 weeks.  I am planning a 3:45 time, based on 38 minute swim (slow pace), 3 min T1, 120 min bike (28.6 miles @ 4 min/mi, slow), 3min T2 and 60 min run...   3:30 would be a stretch goal.. but still on my radar..

Cruzando Panama (sin carro)

Semana a semana le he estado metiendo tiempo a esto de entrenar para triatlones, y en este blog mantenido un record de lo que he ido haciendo.  Ahora que ya llevo 1/3 de las semanas de entrenamiento, tenia la curiosidad de ver cuanto sumaba todo.  

Nadada:  15.75 kilometros

Bicicleta: 521 kilometros

Corrida: 76.8 kilometros

Segun lo que pude medir en Google Map (y esto es aproximado), de frontera a frontera en Panama hay aproximadamente 640 a 650 km.  O sea que ya casi me cruzo Panama.  jaja.. 

Week 6/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

This week totally sucked.  I missed a bunch of workouts, and went from 44/45 as of last Sunday to 49/54 as of today. That means I only did 5 workouts this week.

Anyway, my totals this week were

Swim: 2,000m
Bike:  40 miles
Run: 70 minutes (approx. 7.5 miles)

I decided I will not try to "get" this workouts back. Instead, today I signed up to an Olympic race in 5 weeks, so I best get back on track.  Yeah!

New Shadow Creek Pictures

It's been a good week (Work Permit stuff)...

It has been a good week as far as getting some progress on the work permit shit is concerned.  Yesterday we received a note for an appointment on the 25th of July for the biometrics (fingerprinting, etc).  Today, Judy called me that she received a not for the Interview, for August 13th.

I am not sure how long after that I will be able to work, but I hope it is no more than 1 month.  Will keep you posted.

Week 5/18 - Olymplic Triathlon Training

Week 5 was Race Week.  Shadow Creek was yesterday (see many other posts).  I had to play around, more than usual anyway, with the training days.  

Including the race distances, I did all the workouts required of my so far (so 44 out of 45).  My totals this week were:

Swimming:  3,500m 
Cycling: 51 miles 
Running: 75 min (about 8 miles)

Shadow Creek Results

Preliminary results are in.  I gotta say I am a bit disappointed, as I did not do as well as I wanted to on the swim and the run.  BUT, the good thing is that I did a bit better than expected on the bike and the transitions, AND that I actually felt the swim and the run being harder (wonder if they were because those were the same two things that I pushed a bit more than needed on Saturday)

Anyway, comparted to Tejas, I improved on everything except the run.  Here are the pace comparisons (remember, all distances were different)


                               Tejas Pace        Shadow Creek Pace
Swim (min/M)              0:34:19               0:33:45
T1                               0:02:18               0:01:39
Bike (MPH)                  18.7                   20.1
T2                               0:01:50               0:01:38
Run (min/M)                0:09:50               0:09:56

One good takeaway from this is that I can improve more on the Run.  And I need to.  I think with more concentration on that area I can hit 0:09:30 soon.  Probably not for the 6 miles of the Olympic, but for sure for the next Sprint (maybe I'll sign up for one in August).

Finally, when compared with the "standard" Sprint, which is something I like to do, the time would have been 1:27:09.  Thi is more than a 3 minute improvement over Tejas.

Shadow Creek Sprint Tri... DONE!!

So, this is done!  It started harder than I thought.  I was not enjoying the swim that much, but I remembered what the goal was and some tips I read online, and got through it.  Fortunately the space was very open, so i did not have any of the kicking and splashing that usually happens, so it was just another opern water swim.

The transition to the bike was good.  I took it slow, decided not to overdo it.  We'll see the time, but I think it will be around the 2:00 mark.    The bike itself was awesome, felt really good the whole time.  Started slower, to warm up the legs, and that was a good strategy for me.  The only misshap was that I dropped my water bottle at mile 4.... and never saw it again.  Good thing I had already taken 2 sips, but the next 12 miles were dry.

To the run:  it felt harder at start, but I did not let up.  It turns out I was probably running faster than what I thought at the moment, but we'll see that in the results.

Overall, I believe I did at least the 1:32 I had as a goal, if not better.  I will post official results as soon as I get them, and as before, compare to the 750m/12.1mi/3.12mi "standard" Sprint Tri.  In the meantime, here are some pics.

Ready for tomorrow.

Shadow Creek, here I come.

Como es esto posible??

Como MIERDA no se van a pronunciar?

Camacho: Gobierno no se pronunciará sobre renuncia de ministro Papadimitriu

IRENE HERNÁNDEZ G.

DE LA PRENSA

irene.hernandez@prensa.com

English version

LA PRENSA/Archivo

Luis Eduardo Camacho, secretario de Comunicación del Estado.

Notas relacionadas:

• Silencio oficial sobre Papadimitriu
• Gobierno calla tras la renuncia de Jimmy...

El secretario de comunicación del Estado, Luis Eduardo Camacho, dijo este sábado, 14 de julio, que el Gobierno no se pronunciará sobre la renuncia del ministro de la Presidencia, Demetrio Papadimitriu, que revelada por el diario La Estrella, ayer, viernes.

"El gobierno se pronunciará cuando hay cosas que comunicar; no hay nada en este momento sobre lo que tengamos que pronunciarnos, contestó Camacho, en una entrevista vía telefónica.

Tras el anuncio de la dimisión del ministro de la Presidencia, Demetrio Papadimitriu, se corrieron fuertes rumores acerca de la renuncia de otros miembros del Gabinete, incluso de la viceministra de la Presidencia, María Fábrega.

Estas versiones no han sido ni corroboradas ni desmentidas por el Gobierno.

Tejas Triathlon revisited (and now corrected

Today I was calculating what time I should do tomorrow at Shadow Creek, which got me thinking what time I would have done at Tejas if it had been the "Standard"  distance (750/20K/5K).  So, here it is.

Based on the fact that Tejas was (600/19.28/4.82), and my paces (see other post for these), my projected time for a "Standard' distance would have been...

1:30:44

Well, did not break the 1:30:00 mark, but certainly an improvement over the 1:42:+ I did in Sherman in 2008.  AND, something to look forward to tomorrow.

Shadow Creek Triathlon is TOMORROW!!!!!

I am getting anxious about the Sprint Tri tomorrow.  I know it is only a Sprint, but it is my second one now, and of course you know and I know thatt I want to compare performance to Tejas.  Most of all I want to compare Paces..

So, with that in mind, there are my goals for tomorrow:

                                  Tejas                                          Shadow Creek Goal
Swim                      34:19 min/mile                              31:00 min/mile
Bike                       3:12 min/mile (18.7MPH)             3:00 min/mile (20.0 MPH)
Run                        9:50 min/mile (6.1 MPH)              9:30 min/mile (6.3 MPH)

Based on these paces, the distances for this race (500m, 16.6mi and 3.2mi), my goal for TOTAL time for this race 1:34:12  (have revised this twice based on corrected calculations)

Tomorrow I'll post real results.

Good Tips for a Triathlon

http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/Tips-for-Your-First-Triathlon.htm?page=1


http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/How-to-Reduce-GI-Distress-on-Race-Day.htm

University of Texas Ranked No. 30 Among World Universities

Courtesy of UT

AUSTIN, TX — The Center for World University Rankings has ranked The University of Texas at Austin No. 30 in its inaugural list of the world’s top 100 universities. The ranking combines seven factors — educational quality, faculty quality, alumni employment, patents, publishing, faculty research citations, and influence.

The factor that most moved the university into the top ranks was quality of faculty, an index that denotes the weighted number of faculty members of an institution who have won prestigious honors such as the Nobel Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Turing Award, and the Schock Prize, all of which have been won by current faculty members — physicist Steven Weinberg (Nobel Prize in Physics), chemist Allen Bard (Wolf Prize), computer scientist E. Allen Emerson (Turing Award), and mathematicians John Tate (Wolf Prize) and Luis Caffarelli (Wolf Prize, Schock Prize), among others.

According to the CWUR, the university is the 22^nd best in the United States and the 8^th best public university. Other Texas institutions that made the top 100 include UT Southwestern Medical Center (29), Rice University (57), Texas A&M (73), and UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (96).

“This ranking confirms what we've known for a long time — that world-class universities are built by world-class faculty,” said President Bill Powers. “I’m gratified that excellence at UT Austin has been recognized by yet another organization with a multifaceted analysis of the world’s best academies. This is more good news for Texas alumni, whose diplomas increase in value the higher our rankings go.”

The Center for World University Rankings is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A different system, the Academic Rankings of World Universities, created by a Shanghai-based think tank nine years ago, currently ranks UT Austin 38. Times Higher Education, the United Kingdom’s leading higher education publication, ranks UT Austin 29^th in the world.

For more information, contact: Gary Susswein, Office of the President, 512 471 4945.

Week 4/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

Week 4 was actually not that hard.  I think the body is geetting used to it. What I do have to do is work out in the mornings more because that thing of doing 2-3 workouts in a day to catch up is crazy.

I was abel to do all the workouts this week, so so far I have done 35 of 36 routines.  And I have been able to add 2-3 weight workouts in these 4 weeks.    Very proud of myself!!

This is the summary for the week

Swimming:  3,500m 
Cycling: 60 miles 
Running: 85 min (about 9 miles)


Next week is Shadow Creek.  Check it out


http://www.shadowcreekranchtriathlon.com/

Tomas's Progress

Last week we had the 5 month progress report with Dr. Harris and Maureen.  We had our first report at 6 weeks, and even though we had totally noticed the progress, we had no FORMAL date to back it up.

Well, at no surprise to us, Dr. Harris and Maureen are both EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with the quality and speed of progress of our little Tomas.  They really did not expect the progress to be so good (well, WE DID... jeje).

There is actual data and progress reports to back this up, and I might try to post them soon.  But for now know that everything that has been going on, the good and the bad, is totally worth it because we are giving him a chance at a happy, easier life.


BTW, Ramon is super excited too because he is getting his little brother BACK...

Dismal hiring shows economy stuck in low gear

This sux for me.  It is hard enough already to figure out where to get my skills and experience to fit (at a high enough level), to then have the economy still be sluggish.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/06/us-usa-economy-idUSBRE86504K20120706

Elevator Pitch tool

Nice tool.

http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/

This is why I love Google.

Sometimes it seems Google is very distracted with too many projects, and that may be true, but they still make super cool products.

http://lifehacker.com/5923588/the-best-google-features-youre-probably-not-using

New Chromebook

Today we got our new Chromebook.  For those of you who don't know what this is, you can learn about it in

http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/


I am very technology savvy and friendly, and I think it will take me a while to learn how to live in the cloud  Or if I can live out of my portable Hard Drive.  As I learn I will post more info.

Week 3/18 - Olympic Triathlon Training

Third week flew by.  This week felt a bit easier, I guess the traning is working out.  I only missed one workout this week (1,500 yd swim), and only because of rain.  But I did push it a couple of days, doing 3 workouts in oine day to catch up. 

This is the summary for the week

Swimming:  2,000m (I skipped Saturday's workout, it should have been 3,500m for the week)
Cycling: 65 miles (1st 30 mile day ever, half the time under hard rain.  Very cool)
Running: 85 min 

Tejas Tri Results

I realized recently that I had not posted my Tejas Tri results.  My thoughts on these:

Swim:  I can do better, but this is not the area I need to concentrate most on.  My rank of 37 / 67 is not that bad.

Bike:  here's where I sucked the most.  60/67?  Sux.  I can definitely improve on this time and pace, and should hit 20MPH on my next tri. That is the goal!!

Run:  also, sucked here.  57/67 is better than the run, but not really!!  My pace of 9.50/mile is better than before, but I think I should be able to hit 9.00/mile or under next week.

Keep you (who?? jeje) posted.

Overall

------------ Swim ------------

------------ T1 ------------

------------ Bike ------------

------------ T2 ------------

------------ Run ------------

Time

Total

Place

Place

Name

Bib No

Age

Rnk

Time

Pace

Rnk

Time

Pace

Rnk

Time

Rate

Rnk

Time

Pace

Rnk

Time

Pace

Back

Time

Penalty

57

417

Alejandro Alvarez

436

38

37

11:48.5

387

2:18.1

60

38:27.3

18.7MPH

473

1:50.4

57

29:31.6

9:50/M

28:13.8

1:23:56.1

Panama Canal Expansion is a Big Deal in Texas.

Panama Canal Stakeholder Work Group Shedules Inaugural Meeting

http://www.txdot.gov/news/028-2012.htm

Esto es Preocupante: Banco UBS dice que Panamá pierde credibilidad

“El Gobierno parece sobreextender su búsqueda de financiamiento adicional [y] en el proceso ha empañado nuestra opinión de su compromiso con la responsabilidad fiscal”

Banco UBS: Panamá pierde credibilidad | Panorama-Impreso | Prensa.com:

'via Blog this'

Week 2/18 Olympic Triathlon Training

Two weeks gone.  I defnitely felt it this week, as the 9 workouts from last week took a toll on my (not son in great shape) body.  Today I planned to go do the 25-mile bike session on the road, but while getting my bike ready I made it flat.  Apparently I broke the valve.  What a rookie.

Today I finished week 1 of 18 of the triathlon training plan I downloaded from http://www.trinewbies.com/ . It is supposed to be for Intermediate triathlets (I guess I am?) .  I feel good, not too tired, but tired and worked-out enough.  In summary, the plan includes 9 workouts (in 6 days, Fridays are off days), and this week had the followiing totals:

Swimming:  2,250 m (I skipped Monday's workout, it should have been 3,000m for the week)
Cycling: 60 miles (almost 100km week).
Running: 75 min (a little under 8 miles)

Sat morning after run

This coming week distances go up for everything, and keep going up.   Yikes!!

Saturday morning after swim

For the training plan that I am following go to

http://www.trinewbies.com/

Fan Installation

Today I installed the 4th fan in our (rented) house.  It really is a simple process, but one that many people are afraid, embarrased or don't know how to do.  I really owe my skills in this matter to my dad.  The simple things, I hope I can pass them to my kids.

NO PICTURE OF BEFORE (NOT SO USED TO THIS BLOG THING...)

MID-WAY THRU THE PROCESS 

FINAL PRODUCT - IT WORKS!!!!

1st Olymplic Triathlon coming up....

Dear Alejandro Alvarez,

This email confirms your registration for the 2012 Memorial Hermann Houston Triathlon, submitted on Jun 21, 2012 at 3:47:05PM CDT.

Support
We hope you have a great race! If you have any questions about your registration or your personal profile pages, please email support@bazusports.com or by phone at 888-600-2298 from 9am-5pm US/Pacific.

Sincerely,
BazuSports and Onurmark Productions LLC
Your confirmation code KR2XVJ

http://www.onurleft.com/Onurmark_Race_Productions/Onurmark_Productions-Houston_Triathlon.html